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Saturday, July 12, 2014

Pastor accused of running a ritualist' den in Ikorodu tells his side of the story

Ernest Nwankwo, the head pastor and
General Overseer House of Mercy, accused of running a ritualist' den in
Ikorodu, has finally told his own side of the story. The pastor was
arrested after one of his church members, Mrs Rosemary Chukwu, abducted a
6 year old boy in her neighborhood and told police after she was caught
that her pastor Ernest Nwankwo had sent her to bring the boy.

Speaking about the incident for the first time, Nwankwo told Vanguard he doesn't even know the lady

"I do not know how these allegations of ritual actions against me
started. My ministry has existed for 17 years and we have never been
associated with any bad thing or any untoward allegation. We have been
doing well in carrying out God’s work since we came into existence. We have rehabilitation center where mad people are healed.
Relations of such people bring them to our ministry and also stay with
them until they are healed after which they will go home. We do not
charge them, we feed them free. So, the ministry has been flourishing in
all our branches. Continue...

“When I got to the office on Wednesday, June 15
to do some work and leave for Abuja for another programme, within 20
minutes, around 7.30am, a group of people, armed with dangerous weapons
invaded our ministry, breaking down everything at sight. They also
descended on our members who were over 50 in attendance for the morning
worship.

They were over 300 and were ferociously destroying all
the properties and manhandling everybody. It was like hell was let loose
on us. They were armed to the teeth and were unrestrained in their bid
to destroy everything in the ministry.

They not only subjected our
members to serious beating, they also took all their bags and stripped
all the women and children naked. I was inside the office when they
invaded the place but they later broke into my office and descended on
me. We were all seriously wounded and our bodies covered with blood.

RESCUE
Surprisingly,
four of the hoodlums took pity on me and rescued me from their clutches
as they were hitting my head with cutlasses and dangerous weapons. They
took me to Owutu police station where I made a statement. When they
asked me how it started, I could not explain but simply told them that
some hoodlums invaded our ministry for no just cause.

It was while
we were there that the people that rescued me told us that a woman
claimed I sent her to kidnap somebody’s child. It was like a fairy tale
to me. Before the police I asked for the identity of the woman and why
she claimed I told her to kidnap somebody and they said it was for
ritual purposes. After I recovered from the shock, the policemen
then advised that I should go and treat myself because I was bleeding
profusely as a result of the beating.

I then proceeded to the
hospital for treatment only to start reading in the papers the following
day a lot of other damaging stories and that I was on the run. I
personally reported to the police at Owutu in Ikorodu after treating
myself and also personally reported at Panti the following day on a
Monday.

AT PANTI
By Thursday morning,
unfounded rumours were flying every where. On Friday, while I was going
to treat myself, I quickly sent my lawyer to Panti after hearing the
rumours flying everywhere about me and that the case was transferred to
Panti.

My lawyer told them that I personally reported to the
police at Owute after the incident and that I was allowed to go and
treat myself. He then wrote an undertaking to produce me the next Monday
and we all came to Panti that Monday straight from the General hospital
Ikeja where I had an x-ray. Even one of my ribs was said to have
cracked and I sustained other serious injuries.

INTERROGATION AT PANTI
I
can’t remember seeing or meeting the woman before. A lot of people come
to my ministry so, it will be very difficult for me to know all of
them. However, the police at Panti interrogated both of us and, in fact,
when they brought her before me, I could not remember seeing her in
life and I told the policemen this fact. I can’t even remember whether
she called me on telephone or not because I cannot say the number of
people that call me on telephone for my number is open and given to
people freely to help in solving their spiritual problems.

Nevertheless,
the police interrogated both of us, she claimed that Holy spirit told
her that I should give her N2.5 million, and that she came and told me
to give her the money but I told her that I had no money, that she came
back again to me and requested for the money and I then told her to go
and bring a child before I will give her the money.

I then asked
her where we discussed this, if she has any evidence to show that she
ever visited my ministry because visitors to the ministry always
register their names before seeing me, or if there is any other evidence
to show that we discussed that kind of thing. I punctured her story
because I cannot understand what concerns me with her message with her
Holy spirit.

SUCKING BLOOD
She also claimed
that I have been seeing her in the spirit to suck her blood and that of
her daughter with two gallons since she failed to bring a child to me.
She claimed that I used to stand at her door for two days, tormenting
her, and that was why she had to go for the child when she was caught.

I
asked her where we met and discussed because I have been out of town
for two weeks and how did she know that I came back. She said she was
aware that I came back because I used to carry out consultations. It is
well known by everybody that my consultation days are announced for
members of the public to come and be healed. She also claimed she called
me on phone in December last year and that she came to the ministry
once this year but she could not substantiate where we discussed her
claims.

She was thoroughly interrogated but she kept on
contradicting herself as if she was either insane or under a spell.
Unfortunately, her daughter she claimed I was sucking her blood with
hers whom she said was 14 years was not there during the interrogation.

I
had hoped that she was there for us all to be able to decipher what her
mother was talking about because she is old enough to speak for her
self at 14. I have never had this kind of ugly experience and I pray
never to have it again. I also pray that the police should endevour to
get to the route of this case because I have suffered so much over a
matter I do not know anything about.

KIDNAP SAGA
The
man that was shown saying he was kidnapped and brought from Anambra
State is one of the mad people undergoing treatment in my ministry. The
cousin that brought him to the ministry is Mr. Atuanya, a member of my
ministry and his wife has been with him in the ministry while he was
undergoing treatment. They are living witnesses and they are ready to
testify to anybody that cares to know the truth.

This rumor
against me is very painful to me because I suffered for over fourteen
years to build this ministry to serve mankind. All of a sudden, and from
the pit of hell, an unknown figure materialized from no where to pour
odium on me and accuse me of ritual acts. In all these years, nobody has
ever complained or petitioned against my activities in the ministry.

Instead,
people have been pouring encomiums and giving glory to God for all we
have been doing for mankind. The whole thing is still like a dream and I
pray I would wake up and testify that it was really a dream. My
ministry operates an open door policy, we have no go areas, both
visitors and members of the ministry are never restricted even up to my
personal office. Why must I send her to bring a child to me when I am
happily married with children, what will I do with the child?

INCALCULABLE DAMAGE
This
very ugly development has affected me psychologically in a tremendous
way, the emotional trauma is untold. In terms of the good will I built
over the years, the name, in fact, one cannot quantify the degree of
destruction done to me by this very ugly and unfounded, mischievous
rumor. I have suffered and lost almost everything because the ugly news
went beyond the shores of this country.

People have been calling
from all the parts of the world and you know that bad news travels
faster than any other thing. It is very unfortunate that people believe
such a story when there is nothing at all to hang it on the head of the
prophet. And, when you look at the woman, you will know that she is some
how deranged and we are convinced that by the time police finish their
investigation, the truth will be out.

WHY ME?
What
I cannot fathom is why she choose to tell all these lies against me.
She may have been sent by somebody to run me down because people in that
neighborhood said they saw one mysterious SUV hovering around in the
wee hours before the incident and also the mother of the victim
reportedly said she saw an exotic vehicle that later picked up her
children,.

Police should investigate to find out who owns the
vehicle and where they were taken to. Who ever picked her children must
have a link with this incident.

Police should also find out
whether this is the first time she is doing this kind of thing and if it
is not, how many people must have falling victims to her antics? Worse
still, so far, nobody has told us where the woman is from because the
way the media descended on the ministry, they left out the main
ingredient of the whole matter as if they were sponsored to run down the
ministry.

All I know is that she cannot be doing this alone. Her
sponsors should be fished out. So far, the police has been professional
in their interrogation and they made us understand that investigations
will take time and that the truth must surely surface.

INSIDE THE CELL
Inside
the cell, I detested being treated like a criminal but I took it as
another message point in terms of ministration after all, Jesus went
through worst tribulation in life.a